Honored 1981
Norman Kramer was born in Syracuse, Nebraska in 1910. He started flying in 1927 in Wichita and Garden City, Kansas. His mountain flying experiences started in 1938 when he moved to Alamosa, Colorado and established an airport and flying service. Norm kept busy flying big game survey flights and counts for the Colorado Fish and Game Department. During this time he became the first aerial crop duster pilot in Colorado.
Prior to the start of the Second World War, he established a Civilian Pilot Training program at Adams State College. These programs became vital to national defense as they trained many young pilots who later became military aviators. The Alamosa program graduated about 200 pilots.
Shortly after the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) had been formed, Norm Kramer became the CAP supervisor for southern Colorado. He located the crash site of an Army Air Corps B-24 bomber which had crashed on Baldy Mountain, Northeast of Taos, New Mexico, and dropped food and additional clothing to the survivors. Norm returned six more times that day, actually landing his 65 hp Taylorcraft on one trip. Norm was credited with keeping the stranded airmen alive in the frigid cold until a search party arrived.
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